Keeping Up With Sixes
by HollyJeen
Summary: Tony swore a solemn vow to watch over his chosen family in all the most important ways.
1. Prologue

Author's note: Hi all. I got into NCIS about six months ago and have been reading like crazy ever since! Tony is by far my favorite character, and I am endlessly intrigued by his quirky, unpredicable nature. So, most of my fics will have him at their heart. I like introspection pieces, so be warned: there is no action, no cases - heck, there's not even any dialog! Just me getting into what I think could be in Tony's head! This fic focuses on Tony's feelings toward his teammates and will have six - guess that's obvious:~) - chapters.

Keeping Up With Sixes - Prologue

"On your six, Boss!"

"Go on, McGee, I got your six."

"Don't worry, Ziva. Your six is mine."

"Hey! Watch your six out there."

There were a hundred ways to say it, a hundred ways to let them know that he was watching out for them, protecting them however he could. He hoped they understood that this cliché, this saying muttered amongst jokes and quips and constant insincere teasing, was deadly serious. He did not offer trust easily, and accepted it even less. But, he trusted these people with his life and his heart, and therefore swore an oath to protect them with all that he was.

When Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo thought of the small band of people to whom he pledged protection, he had to laugh at the irony. There were six of them – or at least six who had made their way into the circle over the years. Not all of them had been able to remain, and his failure to protect – to _save _– haunted him still. But nevertheless, when his warrior's heart had sung with need to protect his own, six hearts had beat in harmony. Each one so different, and needing such unique kinds of protection, but he vowed to be worthy of the challenge. He would give them all what they needed, would protect them from the demons – real, remembered, and imagined – that threatened the small band of soldiers. While they watched over America's soldiers, he would watch over them.


	2. Chapter 1 Ziva

6. Ziva

Of his makeshift little family, Ziva David was one who needed his protection the least. And in some ways, the most. When it came to physicality, he could offer little security. He figured she could out-box, out-wrestle and out-punch him any day of the week. In fact, she probably really could kill someone with a paper clip or candy wrapper if she chose. Ziva David – Tony Dinozzo's own private MacGyver-ninja.

He worked hard to have her six, to watch her back when under fire. Even a super ninja was not impervious to bullets, nor could she outrun a bomb. Keeping Ziva safe in the field was becoming one of his greatest challenges as she took increasingly greater chances to catch the bad guys. When Ducky had voiced a concern that Ziva was in fact beginning to morph into Tony, the agent had been shocked. Taking chances in the field was in his nature, but Tony did want it to be in hers. Keeping Ziva safe was proving to be a difficult job. However, he would stand – had stood when necessary – between her and any danger he could see. She was his partner, and therefore held a unique place in his heart.

He knew that, underneath her tough exterior, she often worried whether she did indeed have a place in any of their hearts. She felt an outsider, would always be an outsider to some extent. There was just too much water under the NCIS bridge for the others to open their ranks as fully as they could. Though Tony knew it hurt Ziva, he also knew some things could not be changed.

So, he watched her six in a very special way. He made sure she was part of their family when it came to teasing, tricking and tormenting each other. Though she did not understand the strange, brotherly-yet-antagonistic relationship he and McGee had developed, he knew that she yearned to experience something akin to it. So, he made sure she did.

She presented an easy target with her endearing inability to grasp American slang, even after years of Mossad training and then more years living in the nation's capitol. He knew, but would never admit, that it was mostly an act. After all, a lifetime devoted to being able to fit into any situation and fool any adversary would not lack in such fundamental instruction. If Americans used slang, then Ziva would, too – her life and others depended on it.

Tony figured that her initial inability to use American idioms was merely a way to make her unfamiliar teammates lower their guards. Somehow along the way though, it had morphed into her "thing," just as McGee's was being a writer, Abby's was being Goth, and Tony's was being … well, Tony. Now, he couldn't tell when she was sincerely wrong or just testing her boundaries within the quirky family structure that had evolved over the years.

Now, when Tony jumped to correct her, he could usually see a little spark of delight in her eyes, always hidden under the expected layer of irritation. Each time he teased her about her speech, it meant that she belonged. Sometimes, watching her six was just that simple. That she retaliated with her own unique brand of pranks and biting wit was par for the course. Tony had taken many a cut from Ziva's sharp tongue and was glad to do it; it was his way of making sure she knew how much they liked her. Never let it be said that Tony Dinozzo could not take one for the team when warranted. He would take one for Ziva whenever she needed it. Each time McGee or one of the others beat him to the punch to correct Ziva made him happy because this meant that they had her back too, even if they didn't fully realize the import of their actions.

The protection detail Tony extended for Ziva went much deeper than watching out for her feelings by making her a member of the team. No, they shared a special bond the others could never fully understand. They had never addressed it directly, but both had gained enough knowledge about the other through legal, illegal and possibly immoral methods that they had no need.

Tony understood Ziva's monsters. He _got_ them in a way that perhaps no one had before. He knew, without having to be told, that Ziva's monster was her father. Her relationship with him – with her entire remaining family – was tumultuous at best. When Eli David's name was spoken, Tony could glimpse, just for a second deep in Ziva's eyes, a curious mix of fear, anger and loss, always overlaid with an exquisite sorrow. He recognized that look because it was the same one he saw in the mirror reflected back in his own emerald eyes.

Tony and Ziva each carried a sometimes unmanageable burden of childhood pains, understood only by those who shared the same experience. They were kindred spirits in many ways, and each had developed a curious but profound respect for the other.

Ziva was the sixth member added to his protection detail, but was no less important to him than the others. He often thought that she understood him better than Abby or even Gibbs, because she wasn't too afraid or too focused on the job to look beneath his surface. Tony believed that the others simply did not want to know about the darkness inside him, and so therefore pretended not to see it. Ziva saw, accepted, and understood it. She also allowed him the right to bear it as he could without interference. For that alone, he would always have her six. She watched _his_ back just as he watched hers, and Tony believed that he was in the safest hands possible.

He was always surprised whenever he saw that she watched out for his emotional health in addition to the physical. Even though he felt genuine love for the team, he tried as hard as he could to hold them at arms' length. To a certain extent with the others, it worked. That Ziva simply ignored his efforts to thwart her with juvenile pranks and shallow comments made him mad, but also warmed his heart. With her, his secrets were safe.

Yes, Ziva was his sixth six. Her predecessor had been lost, taken from Tony's circle of protection with no warning. Because of that loss, and for so many that had come before, Tony had tried hard to keep his team at a distance, refusing to love, and risk losing, them.

Ziva had stormed his defenses within weeks of their first meeting, though even now he refused to acknowledge – even to himself – the depth of his feelings for her. To do that would be to risk his heart, and Tony Dinozzo had learned a long time ago that he and he alone could protect his own heart. So, he watched out for Ziva and tried to keep her safe, knowing that one split moment, one second of inattention on his part, could take her from him. It was a monumental responsibility, but one that he took willingly. She was, after all, his partner, and he would do _anything_ for his partner. Her six would always be safe on his watch.


	3. Chapter 2 McGee

5. McGee

McGee, McGeek, McGoo, Probster, Probie-Wan-Kenobi. The list of nicknames, affectionate and biting, was pretty much endless. Tony spent many a commute into the office making up silly names intended to needle the younger agent.

When Timothy McGee had first begun working with 'Team Gibbs,' Tony was apprehensive. He knew that Kate, and perhaps even Gibbs, thought he was threatened by McGee's youth, talents and intelligence. And, on some levels, he was. Here was an agent that possessed skills Tony could never match. Of course that worried him, but not nearly to the level that Kate imagined.

No, Tony was insecure enough to admit that he was somewhat jealous of McGee's computer expertise, but more than confident enough in his own skills to recognize that he had talents McGee could never emulate. Tony was good with people – knew instinctively what pushed them, made them comfortable, made them spill secrets, made them trust, made them grow and made them afraid. He could read them in ways that no one on the team, not even Gibbs, could match. That is what made him Gibbs' senior field agent and what put the "very special" in Very Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo's name.

No, what worried Tony about McGee was insecurity. Not a stretch to guess a rookie field agent would have it, but the younger man oozed it from his very pores. Tony worried, not that McGee would supplant him on the team, but that he would never make it long enough to reach senior agent status. He saw in the early McGee an absolute inability to successfully stand up for himself, and knew that his job would be to draw the younger man out of his shell and into confidence.

So, Tony watched McGee's six.

McGee was the one Tony most sought to physically protect. After all, if McGee could not survive the physical part, the emotional part just wouldn't matter. He saw in his McGoober the makings of a great field agent and knew that, as Senior Field Agent, it was his job to draw that exceptional investigator out of the uncertain probie. If his methods were somewhat unorthodox, Tony just shrugged. After all, he was on Gibbs' team and Gibbs' name was practically synonymous with 'unorthodox.' Gibbs pulled no punches with Tony: in order for McGee to hold his own with the team leader, Tony could pull none with him. He hoped that someday McGee would come to understand that their relationship was akin to that of Gibbs and his first NCIS boss, Mike Franks. The grizzled agent _still_ called Gibbs 'Probie' – Tony secretly hoped that he and McGee would grow into a similar eccentric relationship with time.

In the early days, Tony had always stood at the ready, placing himself between McGee and danger. It was no accident that, in the past seven years, Tony was the agent who had been shot, stabbed, kidnapped, drugged and tortured any number of times. Nor was it accidental that he had been the one to chase too many suspects to count, often getting beat up and/or injured along the way.

In all that time, McGee had suffered a few work-related injuries, but only a small handful that paled in comparison to Tony's lengthy medical jacket. No, Gibbs used Tony's physical prowess to his advantage; Tony relished the physical parts because when he was doing it, he knew that McGee was safe from harm. Like a big brother, Tony assumed the right to torment and tease his Probie until the younger man wanted to scream. But, let one threat, slight or large, get close to McGee and Tony would always be there trying to protect him.

Tony's McGee-Six-Watch went beyond the physical. Tony was empathic enough to understand that the real dangers of the job for any of them weren't necessarily to the body. So, Tony watched McGee's emotional six in uniquely irritating, yet ingratiating, ways. Practical jokes, tasteless humor, incessant teasing until everyone wanted to yell 'uncle' were all intended to take care of McGee from Gibbs, from the suspects and from the job itself.

His peculiar protection detail was never more evident, yet but for some reason never more unacknowledged, than when Gibbs was on the warpath. The team leader had little patience for McGee's tendency to stutter or repeat himself when nervous, nor did he care for the newest agent's knack for talking too much. Especially in the early days, Tony yearned to ask the younger man if he really was as naïve and clueless as he appeared when he babbled on with the boss. The naiveté had faded somewhat as McGee grew into his role, but Tony knew it was an intrinsic part of his nature. Tony didn't want the younger man to lose that youthful innocence, but he did want McGee to learn how to better protect it from harm. Until McGee could do it himself, Tony gladly accepted that charge.

Tony knew that McGee needed seasoning before he could survive Gibbs' foul moods, so he made every effort to distract the boss from being angry. Stupid jokes, purposely exaggerated sexual escapades, endless movie references, acting the fool – all were patented Gibbs-distracters. When Tony saw a storm coming, either because McGee was losing his nerve or Gibbs was losing his temper, he jumped in and offered these distracters so that the less-experienced agent was shielded from the warpath. It usually worked, and Tony had a semi-permanent concussion on the back of his head to prove it.

More than Gibbs-distracters, Tony's office antics were often designed to be McGee-distracters. This part of Tony's protection detail was a secret, one that he hoped to keep from all of them. While Tony was a naturally humorous and gregarious man, the sophomoric humor was engineered as a perfect distraction to the grisly parts of their job. It was his effort to keep McGee from getting lost in the horrors they faced on a daily basis.

Being responsible for investigating the horrific and unspeakable acts man could inflict on man was a monumental task, one that wore down anyone's ability to maintain faith in mankind. Tony couldn't bear the thought of McGee growing jaded and was willing to do what it took to keep the younger man from getting mired down in the job. So far, his tactics had worked; though McGee had toughened his skin, he had not yet hardened his heart. For that alone, Tony would gladly suffer the part of the fool.

Though he sometimes hated himself for being hard on the probie, he understood that you often have to be cruel to be kind. He had learned the hard way as a police officer how to be strong, was still learning it from Gibbs. The McGee that came to them fresh from graduate school just would not make it as an agent. An angry suspect, a jumpy drug addict, a hardened killer – with any of the various criminals they saw each day, McGee's green-ness could have easily caused tragedy, and Tony steadfastly refused to allow that to happen.

So, he worked hard to toughen McGee up, even if it meant sacrificing their relationship. Tony enjoyed seeing McGee retaliate to a joke or best Tony with a prank, for he knew that meant McGee was becoming comfortable in his own skin. It meant that he was doing a good job on McGee's six.

However, now that they had worked together for years, Tony could see that he might have created a little bit of a monster. McGee was getting in some strong zingers lately, some of which stung more than Tony could handle.

Making fun of Tony's ill-fated love affair with Jeanne was an unexpected hurt he did not expect from the younger man. Tony found that he had little defense against a sarcastic McGee, and was currently at a loss as to how to proceed. He had expected the younger man to respond to his antics with his formidable wit, but had not expected McGee to be quite so good at Tony's own game.

There were other times when McGee showed he was changing in surprising ways. When Tony assumed team lead during Gibbs' Mexican sabbatical, McGee had been just shy of insubordinate. Gibbs _would_ have said he was insubordinate. When McGee told Tony he was not deserving of his own team, Tony had been shocked. He always assumed McGee had the same genuine affection for him that Tony had for him. He hoped that McGee was just testing their boundaries and did, in fact, hold Tony in good standing. That the younger man seemed most sincere in his disapproval had hurt more than Tony could say. However, he respected McGee for having the courage to say it, even as the words cut him to the bone.

He was trying to mend fences when he could to soften the sharp edges that had developed in their relationship since his return from a stint as Agent Afloat. He had covered for McGee's occasional tardiness, taking Gibbs' ire without complaint. Tony hoped that McGee would take the gestures for what they were – a reminder that Tony had his back when it counted, even if it was just covering for him with the boss.

Tony understood that their relationship was more complex than outsiders might realize. McGee excelled with technology; Tony excelled with people. They balanced each other, yin and yang each tackling different sides of the same problems. They really did make a great team, even if they didn't always realize it. Tony watched McGee's six in the field and in the office. He was never prouder than when McGee stood up for himself, even when it was at Tony's own expense. McGee was well on his way to becoming an exceptional agent, and Tony was proud of him. Now, if only his knuckle-headed Probilicious would _get _why Tony treated him the way he did, they would be well on their way to a beautiful friendship. Tony could afford to be patient – with him watching both their sixes, he knew they would be around for a long while. There was plenty of time to grow their friendship into one that would stand any test that time chose to throw at them.


End file.
